The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

It's official. The day Daylight Saving Time begins is now my favorite day of the year.


Found this lovely little poster on Wikipedia Commons this morning and, I have to say, I agree. Though I'm not sure what hoe I'm supposed to be getting ready. But the dancing clock is cuuuuute!

So, while I've found that several people disagree with me on this, I still believe Daylight Saving Time is the greatest thing ever. I can't wait until I can come home from work and not feel the pressure of beating the sunset. Running is easier during DST. The couch becomes less appealing and the park has more draw than ever before. 


I keep talking about how I'm ready to kick my running back into high gear, but I haven't done it yet. I think I've been unintentionally waiting for DST. And, you know, things have been busy during the week for me lately. 


But now...I'm READY! Bring it on!


Happy Spring Forward Day, everyone! And stop fretting about your "lost" hour of sleep. You only lose it for one day and your body will adjust in no time. 

Friday Night Treadmill Party

Two days later, she finally posts about her first treadmill experience.

Sorry folks. I'm late. I know you've been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting ... with baited breath.

As the daylight of summer quickly fades into the crap-darkness of winter, I can clearly see that running outside after work is going to get more difficult, especially since I seem to be staying in the office later and later these days. So, since I got out late Friday and since I wanted to test the treadmill in my apartment community before push came to shove, I gave it a go.

I figured most people my age in this community would be out enjoying Halloween parties and not working out, and therefore the equipment would be free. I was right! There are also two treadmills in the workout room, and though I don't like the idea of huffing and puffing and thumping and staggering next to someone, at least there's a greater chance a treadmill will be open.

Anyway, it didn't go too badly. I expected to struggle with finding an appropriate pace for myself and with the mechanics of machine-aided exercise. I didn't expect to finish 25 minutes without stopping. I was right. I did make it to 20, though, and I think I could have done 25+ if I was wearing short sleeves. I overheated a bit, which a friend of mine warned me about. Even though I powered through the hottest of summer runs, getting hot on a treadmill with long sleeves on is different--no breeze.

Do you have any tactics for staying cool on a treadmill?

The first 5 minutes went so quickly; the second 5 minutes also went well. After that, it was a struggle. While those first 10 minutes flew by, I spent the second 10 minutes staring at the clock. I got bored. I had my headphones and a window in front of me, but elected to not turn the television on. That may have helped.

How do you fight treadmill boredom?

I kept my speed at 4.3 for 16 minutes, then bumped it down to 4.1 until minute 19, then back up to 4.2. What's your go-to treadmill speed? I stayed at zero incline the whole time. Hills? Pshh ... NO! =) Anyway, at least I know I can do the treadmill through the winter if need be. I don't want to skip outside running altogether, though, because I still like it much more.

I'll be running at some point today, if I can get myself off the couch. No, I will run today. I just need to decide how much. The Thanksgiving Day 10K is getting closer and I'm starting to bug out a little about the distance. Should I practice a longer run a few times or will I be okay? I mean, it's not like it'll be hot out or anything. And if I get tired, I can just walk with everyone else.

Okay, so a rather dis-jointed, uninspired post today, but I wanted to mark the occasion of my first treadmill run. Until next time ...

A Tribute, A Sacrifice, A New Place To Run

Today, I am paying tribute. In fact, I am so moved by the things to which I am paying tribute that I have decided to sacrifice my weekend run.

Please, a moment of silence.

Mmmmmm ...

Yes, that's right ... I'm skipping the chance to take a Sunday evening run for the sake of watermelon and beer. What you don't see is the frozen Newman's Own four cheese pizza cooking to a crisp in the oven. Health food.

What? It's Bud Select and watermelon is good for you. And, the pizza? It's just good.

So I actually have a semi-valid excuse for choosing not to run this weekend. I didn't do it yesterday because of a marathon shopping trip with friend-o Adrienne, a few hours by the pool, and because I had to say goodbye to my BFF Jeff, who is off to Sacramento to sing and dance his heart out for the rest of the summer. I'm not running today because I just got back to the store with my precious and delicious cargo and I must attend to it. Oh yeah, and because of this interesting problem I've run into.

Dude, the days are too long for running!

I love, love, love Daylight Saving Time and all that it symbolizes, but man it puts a damper on my workout schedule. I just can't wait until 8:30 or 9 at night to run for the sake of waiting until the sun goes down and the temperature drops. I'm a nine-to-fiver. A lazy one at that, who enjoys her sleep and is not willing to sacrifice it.

[I should note that as I sat here typing that last sentence it occurred to me that I should consider running in the morning to solve that problem. But, in light of my upcoming crack-of-dawn boot camp workouts, I'm going to ignore that idea. You understand, right?]

Anyway, this does not mean I will be giving up running for the summer. It just means that I'm going to eat pizza and watermelon and drink beer tonight. Because it's the weekend and I'm not going to stress about it.

On a positive workout note, I tried a new park on Thursday! Well, actually it's not a park. It's a running path at a corporate "park" in my area. I've driven by it many times but have yet to take the plunge to try it out. But I did, and I like it! Yay!

1. It's 98% flat (and 87% of all statistics are made up)
2. It's very un-busy

What's interesting to me is that un-busy part. It's both the reason I've been avoiding it and the reason I love it. I've been avoiding it because I'm still very scared to run alone in unfamiliar, not family oriented places (like parks with playgrounds). It's why I haven't gone running on the streets yet and why I haven't tried Five Mile Trail yet (that and it's apparently very difficult).

Now, there's part of me that realizes that I'm not exactly a primary target for would-be attackers. I'm not a "pretty young thing," to use the words of Mr. M. Jackson, and I don't think I appear to be easy to kidnap or anything--it'd take three people to pick me up and carry me away and I don't think attackers travel in packs, especially not in the 'burbs. So, what is there to be afraid of? I don't know. I'm paranoid. I also think, "What if I fall or get hurt some other way?" I run with my phone, so it's not like I couldn't call for help. Ugh, whatever.

Hey, so how do you handle this situation? Are you afraid to run on your own? Do you take special precautions?

So anyway, back to the new running path. It's flat, it's unpopulated, there are no snotty--I mean precious children bouncing about. It's nice! It goes next to the highway, too, which helps drown out my locomotive breathing. Judging by my experience running Week 3 at Veterans park, I think the shorter part of this trail is just under a mile. There's a longer path, but I think it probably goes over a mile. I opted for the shorter this time. I will be returning, probably this week.

I should note that Thursday's run was not an easy one. My body was not cooperating and I was getting really hot really quickly. (I think this is because of that extra-long daylight issue.)

Okay, my beer is probably close to frozen in the freezer, so I better go rescue it. Be jealous. =)